The entire leadership team at Vancouver’s troubled Mercator Minerals has been picked clean.
Both the board of directors and executive team resigned from their posts September 4, just 10 days after the mining company filed for creditor protection in Canada in a bid to stave off bankruptcy.
Calls to Mercator’s offices went unanswered.
Paul Chambers, Mercator’s proposal trustee at Deloitte Restructuring, told Business in Vancouver he could not say anything about his client until next week.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced plans in December 2013 to acquire the struggling mining firm in a reverse takeover that would get his company, Intergeo, a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Russian regulators held up that deal and Prokhorov, who also owns the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, ended his pursuit of the company in July.
A day prior to Mercator’s September 5 announcement of the mass resignations, the Toronto Stock Exchange said it would delist the copper miner by October.
In 2013, the company’s stock plunged from $0.64 to $0.04.
Four U.S. subsidiaries of the Vancouver-based copper mining company filed for bankruptcy protection in late August, listing debts as high as $500 million.
According to packages mailed to creditors, the parent company has debts in excess of $250 owed to more than 30 people and organizations totalling USD $45 million.
Among the biggest creditors are RMB Australia Holdings Ltd. ($30 million), subsidiary Mineral Park Inc. ($7.4 million) and Vancouver’s Stingray Copper ($2.2 million).
The company also owes money to recently resigned boardroom directors Roman Friedrich ($44,000), Daniel Tellechea ($57,000), John Bowles ($70,000), Ron Vankoughnett ($99,000), Stephen Quin ($65,000) and Robert Quinn ($104,000).
President, director and CEO Bruce McLeod, CFO Mark Distler, vice-president Michael Broch and vice-president Marc Leblanc are among the executive-level resignations.
Just five of the company’s 400 global employees were based in its corporate headquarters in Vancouver as of 2013.
